Barcelona president Joan Laporta says coach Xavi will stay to the end of the season.

Xavi announced on Saturday he intends to leave at the end of the campaign.

Laporta said today: "He said it with such conviction that I replied: ' We are here to hold on and if we are to fight, let's fight and hold on'. But he said no, he had a lot of pressure on him. And I said, 'I only accept this formula because it's you'.

"I want him to continue until the end of the season and I think it's for the best.

"After the match against Villarreal. I usually go down to the locker room and that's when he told me. It was surprising because we had no plans. I listened carefully because Xavi is honest and wants Barça. I saw that he had reflected on it, that he had a lot of pressure on him accumulated. And I thought that what he proposed was logical, and I believed that it was a good formula. A deferred resignation.

"When I entered, he told me that he was resigning but that he proposed to continue until the end of the season."